Congressman Patrick Murphy (D) has officially announced that he is running for Senator Marco Rubio’s Senate seat in 2016.
Because Murphy’s congressional seat leans Republican, it was only a matter of time before he lost to “another well-versed, Allen West-type Republican candidate.”
Murphy saw the writing on the wall and had no other choice but to run the U.S. Senate seat.
This kind of political shuffling is nothing new to Murphy, who, you may recall, decided to follow Allen West into another congressional district race in 2012. West pivoted into the congressional district Murphy currently represents after he learned that the Florida Legislature redrew his congressional district in favor of the Democrat Party. One Florida legislator stated that Allen West was “screwed” during the redistricting process, a full 6 months before the first proposed redistricting map was even released.
“I’m doing this because I think I can make a difference…I’m not running or thinking about all the different options — I mean, there are hundreds of different potential people and options to game this out.”-Rep. Patrick Murphy (Politico)
So, which Republican will challenger Murphy in the 2016 Senate race?
Florida CFO Jeff Atwater is all but in, and Rep. Ron DeSantis is strongly considering the run. Now Florida Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera has emerged as a possible candidate, telling his close friends and advisors that he is very interested in the race, and believes that he has the best chance to beat the Democrat Senate nominee.
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